


Safe on the Ground

by signifying_nothing



Category: K-pop, 방탄소년단 | Bangtan Boys | BTS
Genre: M/M, not really a relationship unless you're squinting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-04
Updated: 2016-06-04
Packaged: 2018-07-12 05:17:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,086
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7086883
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/signifying_nothing/pseuds/signifying_nothing
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"stop asking me how i got up here and just help me get DOWN."</p>
            </blockquote>





	Safe on the Ground

**Author's Note:**

> anonymous tumblr prompt. there is a list of prompts [here.](http://signifying-nothing-at-all.tumblr.com/post/145350227632/signifying-nothing-at-all-give-me-a-pairing-and) i like requests.  
> 

“Don't you dare fucking laugh at me, Jeon Jeongguk, don't you _fucking dare._ ”

On the one hand, he was insulted that Yoongi thought he would laugh at him. On the other hand, he _was_ himself, so he supposed he could understand the concern. If it was anyone else, he probably would have laughed. But Yoongi was up on top of the basketball hoop and who knew how the fuck he'd gotten there or how long he'd been there; his hands were gripping the metal rim so tight that even from down on the ground, Jeongguk could see his white knuckles and red fingers.

“I'm not gonna laugh,” he said, even as he stood under the hoop and looked up at his smallest friend, who glared down at him in a piss-poor attempt at covering his fear. Yoongi hated heights and they all knew it; he'd probably... “How did you even get up there?”

“Don't ask me stupid questions!” Yoongi nearly squeaked. “And just help me get _down._ ”

Jeongguk looked at Yoongi with one eyebrow raised. His DSLR was around his neck, and the basketball hoop faced south; without a doubt he'd been up there taking pictures of the skyline, surely of their friends down below before they'd all left to go to work or class and left him up there. The thought of them doing that was... Well. Rude, in the least.

“Lemme go get my truck,” Jeongguk said. “I'll be right back, okay?”

“Yah, Jeongguk, Jeon Jeongguk don't you _leave me up here,_ ” Yoongi's voice raised into a shrill whine with panic and Jeongguk turned around to wave up at him.

“I'm not gonna! Let me go get my truck, okay, it's not like you can jump down into my arms or something, we'd both break limbs!” He only felt a little bad as he turned around and continued walking before he started on a light job towards his pickup, parked in the lot not too far from the basketball court where they all liked to hang out and shoot the shit on the weekends when they had time. It was in a somewhat rough part of town, but the seven of them never had anything to worry about; not even spacey Taehyung, who came from the wealthy area around the lake and had no idea of the dangers that could hurt him. It was a good thing he had Jimin to make sure he didn't hurt himself.

He climbed up into the truck and started it up. Pressed down on the clutch and shifted the gear stick to drive over the grass median and over the court until he was parked just under the hoop, the roof of the cab directly under Yoongi, still straddling the hoop, probably shaking in terror. Poor guy.

Jeongguk climbed out of the truck and got up into the bed, easily getting up onto the cab and looking up at his friend, just a few short feet over his head now. Yoongi's face, now that he was close, was ashy save for the redness of his cheeks and lips. He'd been chewing them. “Come on,” he said, offering his arms. “Gimme your stuff first, okay? I'll get it in the cab and then I'll get you down.”

“You're gonna fucking run off with my camera aren't you,” Yoongi said, attempting to sound sour. Jeongguk smiled.

“Even if I did, what am I gonna do with it? Come on, gimme the camera and the bag, okay?” He smiled when Yoongi slowly lifted one hand from the hoop, the other gripping even tighter. The chain of the net was probably digging into his palms. His hands shook as he offered down the camera and Jeongguk almost dropped it; Yoongi shrieked in worry and Jeongguk crouched to swing it through the open drivers side window onto the seat, followed quickly by the equally heavy camera bag. With Yoongi's things secure, he turned to look up at him and felt his gut twist a little; Yoongi's eyes were squeezed closed, teeth gritted and bared.

“Come on,” he said again. “You gotta swing your leg around, okay? Can you do that?”

“Of course I can,” he said, and Jeongguk watched his adams apple bob. “Of course I can,” and he sat up but didn't make it to swinging his leg around; one hand grabbed at the backboard and the other clutched the rim when the wind picked up and caused the pole to shake just a little. Just enough to cause a distressed whine to wrench out of Yoongi's throat and Jeongguk wondered if he'd ever seen his older friend so upset before.

“Come on, it's okay,” Jeongguk felt like he was talking to a little kid, a strange sensation considering the fact that he was the kid, here. “It's okay, just grab the board and swing your leg around, all right? I can help you down if you bring your leg over.”

The movement was halting and slow and Yoongi almost stopped a few times, clutching the backboard with both hands once his skinny leg was more than halfway around the rim. In a burst of what Jeongguk thought was probably panic, he jerked his leg all the way around, his knees pressed tight together, legs dangling as he pressed himself against the backboard and heaved for breath, eyes mostly closed, fingernails digging into the wood. “That's good,” Jeongguk said, smiling. “Come on, it's okay. I don't want to grab you by the legs, you have to reach down for me, okay?”

“I'm gonna die,” Yoongi said, probably trying for grumpy and just sounding scared, but Jeongguk humored him anyway, because he thought it might make him feel better. “I'm gonna fucking die from falling off a _fucking_ basketball hoop.”

“You're not gonna _die,_ ” Jeongguk said. “Don't be dramatic. Come on, reach down. Gimme your hands.” Yoongi swallowed and cautiously reached one hand down, the other still holding on to the backboard. Jeongguk caught his fingers and smiled up at him. “The other one now,” he said, and Yoongi shook his head, mouth dropped open like he was going to speak but nothing came out. “Gimme your other hand, Yoongi, I can't get you down like this.”

The metal of the roof was bent under Jeongguk's weight but he didn't much care; what mattered was getting Yoongi off the fucking basketball hoop he'd somehow gotten stuck in, and the truck would be _fine._ Maybe there's be a dent because of his weight, but it was the fucking roof. No one was going to see it.

“It's okay,” he promised, shaking his hair out of his eyes. “Gimme your hand, I've got you.” He rubbed his thumb across Yoongi's knuckles and waited patiently. His other hand slowly let go of the backboard and jerked into Jeongguk's waiting fingers. “Now get to the edge, okay? I'm right here, you're not gonna fall. I'm gonna catch you.”

“You aren't,” Yoongi whispered, and Jeongguk shook his head.

“I am, I promise. I'm gonna catch you. Come on.”

Yoongi's grip on his hands was so tight it hurt, but after a few minutes of gentle coaxing he was sitting at the edge of the rim, still pressed to the backboard so most of his weight rested on the big bolts that held the rim in place. He was only two feet up, his knees close to Jeongguk's upper chest.

“I'm gonna catch you,” Jeongguk promised, and Yoongi swallowed hard. Jeongguk fancied he could hear the sound as Yoongi wiggled a little further and started to slip off the rim. He shrieked and Jeongguk reached up and out, grabbed him under the arms and pulled him in, holding him to his chest while Yoongi had hands fisted in his shirt and was heaving like—

“I'm gonna be sick,” he warned, jerking away and barely managing to bend over the edge of the cab before vomiting, a filmy little stream of bile that made Jeongguk wrinkle his nose, but nothing more. It was no worse than Seokjin vomiting after he'd been drinking, and it was significantly less, at that.

He spat a few times, coughed and trembled, trying to catch his breath. Jeongguk sat down at the edge of the cab and brought Yoongi down into his lap, since he wasn't letting go, so sitting him on the side wasn't exactly an option.

“Holy shit,” Yoongi said, head bent down and Jeongguk was grateful for that. Vomit-breath, ugh. “Holy shit, I thought I was gonna die, oh my god.”

“You really think I'd let you fall?” Jeongguk said, rubbing one hand up and down Yoongi's back while the other held up his weight. “I'm kind of insulted.”

“I thought I was gonna die,” Yoongi said again, and Jeongguk blinked, looking down as Yoongi's head rested on his chest, just for a minute. He thought about all the times Yoongi refused to go up the fire escape to get to Namjoon's place, always insisted on going inside to take the stairs; all the times he'd refused to get up on the train cars or climb up on top of the abandoned warehouses with the three youngest, shouting for them to get down before they fell and died. He was always convinced one of them was going to die and there was something important about that, but Jeongguk didn't want to think too hard about it.

“I'm not gonna let you die from falling off a basketball hoop,” he assured. “Talk about shitty ways to go, Yoongi.” Yoongi's head stayed on his shoulder until his grip started to loosen. He sat up and smacked his tongue into his teeth with a grimace. “I've got gum and water in the cab,” Jeongguk said, and Yoongi nodded—slipping down from his grip to the bed of the truck, walking to the edge before sitting down and waiting for Jeongguk to get down first. He looked like a little kid as he offered out his arms and Jeongguk stepped closer, grabbing his hips to help him down from the tailgate. “There,” he said, smiling when Yoongi let out a huge sigh of relief. “Back on solid ground, huh?”

Yoongi nodded and Jeongguk headed around to the cab, reaching for his bag and water bottle. Yoongi popped the two offered pieces of mint gum into his mouth and took a long drink of water without letting his mouth touch the bottle and Jeongguk smiled sweetly.

“Come on,” he said. “You don't have work today, right?”

“Yeah,” Yoongi said, still trembling, probably from stress and the exertion of being sick. “Yeah, I don't have to work today.”

“You wanna go out? I'm free all day too. We could go down to the beach or the park?”

“Yeah, that... That sounds good,” Yoongi nodded, and Jeongguk grinned, leaning in to press a kiss to his hairline while Yoongi blushed and pushed him away. “Yah.”

“Lets go,” he said, nodding to the cab. “You get in, I'll close up the back and we can go, okay?”

“Yeah,” Yoongi said again, and Jeongguk went to close the tailgate, looking up at the basketball hoop. He still wasn't sure how Yoongi had managed it in the first place, but he _did_ know that it was Hoseok who texted him to tell him to come down to the court.

He'd have to thank Hoseok later, he thought as he climbed into the truck and Yoongi looked over at him, expression soft. He looked so handsome, now that he felt safe, down on the ground. And maybe seeing Yoongi helpless and scared had caused a _tiny_ thrill to go through his gut but he knew that he didn't want to see it again; playing the rescuer once was enough. More than enough, apparently, because Yoongi reached over the console to grab Jeongguk's hand once the truck was in gear, and didn't let go save for gear changes until they got to the beach, just the two of them. Even then, when they got out of the truck, Yoongi stayed close, camera around his neck, and Jeongguk felt a familiar wave of affection wash over him. He'd definitely have to thank Hoseok. Even if it had been a little mean to leave Yoongi up there on the basketball hoop. It wouldn't happen again. But even if Yoongi got up in a high place somehow, and couldn't get down, Jeongguk would make sure he was there to get him safely back to the ground.

Always.

 


End file.
